The life of a child, requiring pediatric palliative care or living with chronic illness, deserves continuous holistic quality care. No child should endure suffering from lack of care or ineffective management of pain and symptoms. The advanced practice nurse can provide optimal care and meet those needs. It is time for change. This paper addresses pediatric palliative care and the advanced practice nurse role. Included is the significance, complexity, barriers, drivers for change, and solutions to solving the unmet needs in pediatric palliative care. “The main goal of pediatric end-of-life care is to enhance a child's quality of life during his or her final journey” (Carroll et al, p. 819). Advanced practice nurses’ are the fundamental …show more content…
“Confusion about the meaning of palliative care and the ways it differs persists” (O’Shea, p. 35). Research and education is an essential contribution to the evidence base of pediatric palliative care, the advanced practice nurse role, and supports optimal care. “While palliative care for children has been the subject of increasing interest and research, much work still needs to be done to improve care of children with advanced illness and their families” (Mack, p.14).
It is vital for the advanced practice nurses to develop, document, educate, and implement quality care for the pediatric palliative patient and family, as “many parents need education and support in what is best, a role that is usually filled by health care professionals” (Whitty-Rogers, p. 744). Pediatric palliative patients and parents are active participants in care deserving of respect. “Respecting beliefs, customs, and traditions with a focus on preserving the integrity and sanctity of the parent-child relationship is of utmost importance in pediatric palliative care” (Weiner, p.
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The advanced practice nurse is well positioned to be a leader and catalyst for change. “There is a huge opportunity for nurses to step up, provide leadership and make clear nursing’s unique set of contributions to people who need palliative care” (RWJF, 2010). Working with state boards of nursing and nursing organizations to develop plans and advocate for legislative change. The advanced practice nurse ability to practice to the full scope of practice and training requires the removal of restrictions and barriers. Advanced practice nurses deliver knowledgeable, competent holistic quality care that is cost efficient. Through increased funding, research studies, and analyzing data, the advanced practice nurses can provide relevant information to promote policy changes. Advanced practice nurses can transform the healthcare system, blending their strength in collaboration with interdisciplinary teams. Providing compassionate, quality holistic care with expert management through all stages of illness, for a child with chronic illness or receiving end of life palliative
In 2011, Barbara Safriet published an article “Federal options for maximizing the value of Advanced Practice Nurses in providing quality, cost-effective health care” from a legal perspective. The article focused on the benefits of utilizing Advance Practice Nurses to the full extent of their abilities as well as the current barriers that APNs encounter in their practice. The aim of this paper is to discuss two regulatory provisions to full deployment of APNs in current health care system, as well as three principle causes of current barriers to removal of the restrictive provisions for the APN. Furthermore, I will discuss the critical knowledge presented in the article and how it relates the APN practice. This article was incorporated into a two-year initiative was launched Institute of Medicine (IOM) and by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) in 2008 which addressed the urgency to assess and transform the nursing profession.
Nurses play a big role in supporting the parents while their child is in the NICU. Showing compassion and demonstrating caring actions when caring for the patient makes it more likely that the parents will trust the nurse and the information the nurse gives them regarding their child’s condition. This trust is important as it helps the parents feel confident in the decisions they are making about their child’s care. When the parents of an ill child in the NICU have decided to terminate treatment palliative care by the nurse and other healthcare providers comes into play. Palliative care is keeping the child comfortable by treating the symptoms and being there for the parents and child physically, emotionally, and spiritually (Eden & Callister, 2010).
Palliative care is medical or comfort care that reduces the severity of a disease or slows its progress, but does not provide a cure (Dreeben, 2007). Different people have different needs when life is ending. Working with the incurable may sound depressing but death is a certainty and what we do each day for these patients as physical therapist assistants, matters. Providing care effectively and appropriately has a huge impact on the patient, therefore acquiring the ability to comfort and care for a patient at such a critical stage in life, is an amazin...
The first journal article is about advance care planning (ACP) in palliative care. This is of interest due to several clinical experiences and the realization that many families either ignore the patient’s request for end of life (EOL) care or who have no idea of how to plan for EOL care. By reading the research and understanding the methods used, this will allow for insight into how to implement palliative care into clinical practice across different sites. The authors of this original research are Jeanine Blackford PhD, RN, senior lecturer at La Trobe University in Australia, and Annette Street PhD, associate dean of research and professor of cancer and palliative care studies. According to Blackford & Street (2011), this research is important as there are many countries that “report a low percentage of people who have completed an advance care plan” (p. 2022), and ACP is needed upon admission to facilities that offer palliative care.
Kain, V. (2006). Palliative care delivery in the NICU: what barriers do neonatal nurses face?. Neonatal Network: NN, 25(6), 387-392.
Pediatric oncology nurses are given the unique opportunity to make connections and build long-term relationship with their patients and families. Standard treatment protocol for many childhood cancers span over the course of years, with long-term surveillance and follow up visits after treatment has finished. Due to their patient’s chronic diagnoses and the acuity of their conditions, pediatric oncology nurses work in an environment of increased stress. The high stress environment puts the nurses at an increased risk for compassion fatigue; so it is the responsibility of both the nurse, and the institution to be aware of the symptoms and to effectively manage the condition should it arise. Without proper attention to the stress management of pediatric oncology nurses, compassion fatigue may be of concern and put patient care at risk.
Advanced practice registered nurses play a significant part in extending access to health care by providing primary care and specialty care services to clients. Advanced practices registered are mentors, educators, researchers, and administrators. According to Health Resources and Services Administration, “Ninety-six percent of the NP workforce reported being in clinical practice, providing direct patient care” (Health Resources and Services Administration 2016). Furthermore, “Nearly three percentages were in faculty positions and approximately one percent was in administrative positions”(Health Resources and Services Administration 2016).
Mundinger, M., (1994). Advanced-Practice nursing—good medicine for physicians? New England Journal of Medicine, 33(3), 211-214. Retrieved from http://www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1056/NEJM199401203300314
The American Nurses Association (ANA) developed a foundation for which all nurses are expected to perform their basic duties in order to meet the needs of the society we serve. The ANA “has long been instrumental in the development of three foundational documents for professional nursing; its code of ethics, its scope and standards of practice, ands statement of social policy.” (ANA, 2010, p. 87) The ANA defined nursing as “the protection, promotion, and optimization of health and abilities, prevention of illness and injury, alleviation of suffering through the diagnosis and treatment of human response, and advocacy in the care of individuals, families, communities, and populations” and used to create the scope and standards of nursing practice. (ANA, 2010, p. 1) These “outline the steps that nurses must take to meet client healthcare needs.” () The nursing process, for example, is one of the things I use daily. Other examples include communicating and collaborating with my patient, their families, and my peers, and being a lifelong learner. I continually research new diagnoses, medications, and treatments for my patients. As a nurse of ...
Brykczynski, Karen A. “Role Development of the Advanced Practice Nurse,” in Advanced Nursing Practice: An
This paper will evaluate the local, national and international drivers that have influenced the development of advanced nursing practice. The discussion will include the political, economic, social, and technological influences that have contributed to the transformation from the traditional nursing role to the numerous exciting advanced level career opportunities achievable in nursing today. Dynamics that have shaped my own current advanced nursing role will be discussed and to conclude some thoughts on the future of advanced nursing practice.
At this point, this writer is slightly unsure of which pathway she may take, once she has completed her studies; the writer is currently contemplating education, health population, or a career as a practitioner. So, this writer had the privilege of interviewing two individuals, one practitioner, and one population health coach. Each gave this writer interesting, sometimes similar, perspectives of being an advanced practice nurse.
According to Hamric, Spross and Hanson (2005), “advanced practice nursing is the application of the expanded range of practical, theoretical and research based- competencies” to provide patient care in different settings (Pulcini, 2013). Advanced practice registered nurse APRN is a nurse that completed a graduate level program that can practice as a certified nurse practitioner, (NP) certified registered nurse anesthetist (CRNA), clinical nurse midwife (CNM) or clinical nurse specialist (CNS) (Scope and standard, 2010). To be licensed to practice as APRN, they need to pass a national certification exam and maintained their license via recertification through continuous competencies.
The passing of the Affordable Health Care Act bill on March 23, 2010 places Nurse Practitioners (NPs) at the forefront of health care reform, with the opportunity to be creative and innovative. I envision primary care, preventive care, case management, nurse leaders and educators as critical components of the health care reform. The healthcare reform bill has included provisions through grants for advanced practice, general nurse education and innovative nurse-manage health clinics. This incentive for Nurse Practitioners is timely as the role of Advance practice registered nurse (APRN) continues to evolve. It is a wonderful opportunity as I ...
The first key message that is discussed is that nurses should practice to the fullest extent of their education and training. Most of the nurses that are in practice are registered nurses. Advanced nurse practitioners are nurses that hold a master’s or doctoral degree and include nurse midwifes, clinical nurse specialists, nurse practitioners, and nurse anesthetists and consist of about two hundred and fifty thousand of the nurses currently working today. Advanced practice nurses are limited to what